In today's society there is a masculine image that males seem to feel they all need to conform to, the fact that this is overlooked, that males who are insecure about themselves or those who don't conform to the masculine image are simply looked down on, is wrong. On the other hand, the insecurity in women is seriously over looked. People need to stop believing that all women are fragile and insecure. We are all human and we have a right as individuals not to be pigeonholed by our genders but to be insecure or confident in our own right without any judgement.Â
In today's society there are a lot of women who are openly insecure about their own bodies and image. There are not, however, anywhere near as many men. It has almost become relatively acceptable for women to be insecure and this is even often expected. This should not be the case; all people are beautiful in their own way, man, woman, demon, angel, god, devil shadow, or whatever other preference you would like to consider yourself as. No one should feel insecure. Yet, at least the female half of the problem is being addressed (to an extent). What is slightly worrying is the male half of the problem, which, to many people, is non existent. There are a lot of insecure males in this world yet they cannot find any form of help as no one believes in the problem. In Scotland, 1993, Male suicides were in the mid 600's while the suicide rate for women only just rose above 300. Suicides are most commonly linked to insecurities and this only goes to show the scale of the problem. This has only risen over the years so that the male suicide rate in the UK is over 40,000 while that of women is over 14,000. The scale will only escalate if not addressed and the fact that Jane Powell from the guardian noted in 2013 that many 'men don't even know when their depressed'(1) shows the lack of help and information available to men let alone the expectations that 'men don't get depressed'. Bullshit. Not even those with the problem realise they have a problem. Â
In today's society there is a very specific masculine image which has developed into something more and more exclusive over the years. It is one where those who get most of their style pointers from the Biebers and One Directioners in the world yet will disclaim any knowledge of having done so. It has essentially developed to create a boy band image designed to attract the opposite sex which has led to an new, almost competitive breed of masculine creatures that compete in their chases of the females of the species. This has led to a very misogynistic view of women in that it has reduced them to objects, more specifically, trophies. This serves to increase the amount of insecure outsiders unable to be themselves due to these expectations while also struggling to fit in and find companions due to the stereotypes. It also forces many males to conform to these modern day stereotypes and therefore to often become misogynistic individuals without morals. This is obviously a generalisation but does happen to a surprising amount of young men. This therefore begs the question that, if there was more help for young men or even just an awareness of this problem would this turn things on their head? would it encourage males to create their own identity rather than being a part of this misogynistic cult? allow people to not be so insecure about themselves, their image and their own identity?
The issue with the feminine image, however, is that it has almost been accepted as the norm; it is almost as though people have given up on addressing the problem, that women are naturally and always will be insecure. Don't get me wrong, the issue of feminine insecurity has been dealt with rather well in the past and the suicide rates clearly show that it has at least been addressed to a greater extent than that of the male issue but  it is unacceptable to look at it as solved. It is wrong also to assume that every women is insecure yet also wrong to ignore the problem in this sense. All people should feel strong about themselves yet those who don't should be encouraged to and so these kind of issues can only ever be addressed, like most things in life including life itself, with balance. Do not under or over estimate but remain open to the possibilities, differences, individualities and options. No one should ever feel insecure and it is society to blame for us feeling this way. Trust me, I have dealt with my fair share of insecurities myself and the only way they can be dealt with is by not conforming to societies discrimination. And that means everyone, not just those who are insecure. Women, therefore, just like men and every other human being on this planet, should not be instantly assumed to be something they may not be; this is the root of the problem for everyone of us regardless of gender.
The genders here present us with two different extremes of the same problem. The most obvious way to tackle the problem of male insecurity would firstly be to make people aware of it. Those who are subject to it most likely already are. Yet, It has never been acknowledged publicly, nowhere near to the point  that feminine insecurity has and acknowledgement seems to have helped a great deal in that sense if we look at the stats. Feminine insecurity presents a different problem in that it has already been acknowledged for a while and addressed to some extent yet has been wrote off as a dated issue. However, this battle is never over in both cases for both genders. I know that this is all a little generalised yet generalisation is essentially the problem here; that men cannot be insecure because they are so strong and macho while women must be insecure because they are always so emotionally weak and feeble - this is just plain wrong and everyone who lives in the real world knows it. Everyone is different and gender has nothing to do with any of it, it simply categorises us by our sexual organs but does not dictate anything else. Everyone, no matter what their gender, is rightly allowed to feel both confident and insecure. Gender essentially means nothing when it comes down to it yet the reason I write this is because we are often blinded by the stereotypes society offers us. Because of the macho image so often associated with males in today's society we forget about the possibility of insecurity. On the other hand, because of the idea that women are fragile and insecure creatures imposed on us by society we forget that they should not have to and may not be insecure. No one should have to in this free world after all. We are all beautiful in our own little ways and we are all human. We reserve our human rights and it should not be forgotten that everyone is entitled to feel both confident and happy in themselves or insecure. This should not be frowned upon, it is against our basic human rights.
1. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/suicide-rates-men-gender-issue
